How great is this image? Jack Turner, press photographer nearly a hundred years ago. Suitcase-sized camera slung over his shoulder, cigar clamped between his teeth, bowler hat, and that wonderful expression.

Old photos are so often sombre affairs, I love when they’re full of character and show their subjects as real people, instead of “olden day” people from some time so distant that they were nothing like us.

P.S. A little further research uncovers Ted Hood, the photographer who took the photograph above.

Ted Hood photographing Leo Basser. 1937

Didn’t they look so ultra suave in those days? I want his hat and his jacket and his gorgeous camera, and I want to be a slick photographer just like him… except… you know, less stubble.